Luxury flats proposal mooted for Portobello seafront

Proposals for a six-storey luxury flat block on Portobello Promenade have been put to the public before final plans are presented to the city council.
Artist impression of Pipe Lane development planned for Portobello. Picture: ContributedArtist impression of Pipe Lane development planned for Portobello. Picture: Contributed
Artist impression of Pipe Lane development planned for Portobello. Picture: Contributed

The community will have the chance to comment on the Pipe Lane development, which will border the new five-storey Harbour Green apartment blocks on the seafront at the city’s “beach resort”.

Revised plans have seen the number of flats and townhouses cut from 18 units down to 13.

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Developer Portobello Sands Ltd said the reduced scale of the block will limit the impact of the build on neighbouring properties by providing more opportunity to view the kilns.

Artist impression of Pipe Lane development planned for PortobelloArtist impression of Pipe Lane development planned for Portobello
Artist impression of Pipe Lane development planned for Portobello

Two B-listed pottery kilns, dating back to 1906 and said to be the last visual remnants of the pottery industry in 
Scotland, will be incorporated into the site

Melvyn Strand, director of Portobello Sands Ltd, said: “We believe our new revised plans for Pipe Lane will complement the existing development and enhance the character and appearance of the locality.

“We have reduced the number of properties and scale from 18 to 13 in our revised proposals, which would result in a smaller development than originally planned.

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“The new designs open the site up more, which protects the views of the kilns.”

Artist impression of Pipe Lane development planned for PortobelloArtist impression of Pipe Lane development planned for Portobello
Artist impression of Pipe Lane development planned for Portobello

If successful, the development will include eleven luxury apartments in one building 
facing onto the Promenade. These would offer a mix of ten three-bed flats and one two-bed apartment.

A second detached building is also proposed at the back of the site including two three-bedroom townhouses arranged over three floors with car and cycle parking.

The five-storey building will be topped with a set-back sixth floor “pop-up” – the sixth floor is a pop-up set back into the roof area to minimise its impact.

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And each apartment will feature a balcony, terrace or south facing garden with views north over the Firth of Forth or east down the promenade.

Mr Strand added: “The plans are not finalised yet, we would hope that our pre-application consultation process will answer any concerns that may arise.

“The principle of developing on this site has already been consented.

“And whilst we are changing small aspects of the proposals, we believe that the resultant impact on existing residents will be lower than previously proposed whilst delivering a similar high quality development.

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“We’ve already had an encouraging start to the process with interest from potential buyers from the area.”

The proposed residential development would replace the existing consented five and three-storey 18 apartment building.

The developers are keen to engage the public and have said: “It is important that local residents have the opportunity to feed into the design process and comments would be greatly appreciated in advance of any plans being finalised then submitted through the formal planning process.”

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